MARCH 21, 1949

HYDE PARK, Sunday—Our snow here yesterday gave us the most beautiful shadows and blue lights in the
early morning, and at sunset there was a glow over the ice in the brook and on the
snow which made this last fling of winter a scene of great beauty.

I sat looking at all this beauty while I listened to the report on the radio of the
Atlantic Pact. Now I have had a chance to read the text, and I think it can truthfully
be called a defense treaty. I think also that it is made very plain in the text that
this pact is conceived within the United Nations Organization.

Article One states clearly that the parties undertake, as set forth in the charter
of the UN, "to settle any international dispute in which they may be involved by peaceful means."

Article Four and Article Five seem to me a realistic facing of the need for defense
and of the steps that must be taken in case of aggression. And our own particular
domestic situation, as regards Congress, seems to be well taken care of by the words, "such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed
force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area."

I suppose it is natural, since our difficulties have been growing with the Soviet
Union, that they should feel that this is designed as an aggressive measure against
them. Yet I believe that is far from the truth. Unfortunately, we have reached a point
where we suspect every action taken by the Soviet Union and they suspect every action
taken by us. In the light of this situation, it is true that it has been impossible
to create the kind of "one world" envisioned by Wendell Willkie, or to avoid any regional
pacts within the United Nations. If it had been possible to encourage greater understanding
and to prevent suspicion and animosity, no regional pacts might have been formed.
But with conditions as they are, this may give the democracies sufficient sense of
security to face calmly and with less fear the alliance of the USSR and its border
states.

The democracies may now be more ready in a general way to take excursions into fields
where we might be able to create greater unity in some types of development. The Soviet
Union seems of late to be cutting itself off in one field after another. It has left
the World Health Organization, it has not entered into the wheat pact, it has never
been a part of UNESCO or of the International Labor Organization.

If, however, we could find something in the economic field which would break this
continuous tendency toward withdrawal, and get us working together, the situation
might improve. Feeling protected from aggression may make for greater willingness
on the part of the democracies to take steps along new lines. Some contact must be
established with the Soviets unless we are going to continue indefinitely the trend
toward ever greater isolationism for the USSR.

E. R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1949, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.; REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR
IN PART PROHIBITED.)